For eight or ten years now, I've faced the annual ordeal electronically - come early April, you'd find me hunched over the keyboard pounding numbers into the interface of a copy of TurboTax. This year, though, was different: I was given the chance to use a complimentary copy of H & R Block Tax Cut to fill out my return. As I'm never one to pass up the opportunity for a freebie, I accepted. I must've been excited... heck, I started filling out my taxes in March instead of April for once!

I'm not a professional tax preparer, an accountant, or a lawyer (heaven forfend!) - come to think of it, I've never even taken an accounting class (will someone kindly explain the difference between single- and double-entry bookkeeping?). But I've been filling out my own taxes for at least thirty-five years and although I don't like doing it, the chore doesn't send me into the paroxysms of fear some claim to experience. No, really... Filling out the forms electronically for the first time required a leap of faith, though, since there aren't any papers for shuffling frantically and one needn't visit the post office or public library. But with several years behind me, I've come to appreciate the TurboTax method. So, I asked myself, could TaxCut be much different?

The answer is "Of course it can."


This year I filed my taxes with TaxCut, using their most advanced on-line version. There, the available levels are 1040EZ, Premium, and Signature, which correspond roughly to their TaxCut Standard, Deluxe + State, and Premium + State software versions (all of which are available on CD-ROM or via download). Regardless of the version or medium you chose, you'll get free electronic filing (except for TaxCut Standard) and "WorryFree Audit Support." The product's software versions claim "seamless imports" from accounting and other tax preparation software for your previous year's return and your bookkeeping data, but although I went through the process several times I never saw a link to do this for the online products at any level. Score a plus for TurboTax, who offer direct upload from the mother company's Quicken(r) software at all but the most basic level.


When it comes to tax software, there's apparently only one way to fill in all those forms. That's the "interview" method, used by both TaxCut and TurboTax. Filers walk through a series of steps as if they were filling out paper forms, beginning at the top of form 1040 and proceeding down the page. When you reach the blank for entering information from Schedule whosis or Form whatsis, the interview asks a few questions to determine whether you need to fill out that form. If the answer is yes, the process branches off to complete the form and returns to 1040 when the process is done. Help is readily available in many forms, which include

• definitions reached by context-sensitive links in the instructions or text
• frequently-asked questions displayed in a help pane at the right side of the work area
• a help center with a list of topics in roughly the same order you'd find them
• On-line chat and email support for both technical questions and tax questions. Note, however, that you'll be charged twenty dollars per question asked of those tax professionals

The interview process is basically idiot-proof. I went through it with the 1040EZ program, which takes about the same amount of time as filling out the paper form. At a mere ten bucks, it includes free eFiling of your federal return, which is pretty much worth the purchase price (you'll still have to shell out $25 to do the state forms online, $15 if you do the 1040EZ). Even at more involved levels - the Premium and Signature levels - the interview process is constructed well enough to prompt you for just about anything you'd ever encounter, unless your finances are messy enough to require the help of a CPA. I tested it out by entering self-employment data, rental income and unemployment income from previous years, and dummied up a few other scenarios as well. Most of the definitions are lifted directly from the IRS tax code, so they're about as helpful as you'd expect (darn!). The suggestions and other help are average for tax preparation software, probably because they're written by tax professionals and are therefore full of jargon you don't understand.

At any point in the process, filers can go backwards and forwards through the process using a "take me to" feature, which takes one to a checklist showing the processes and forms already completed. You can also edit or delete information you've already entered at any point up until you file the return.

I also filled out state income tax forms, which cost an additional $25 per state. All the necessary data are passed directly from the federal form to the state form, then you walk through another interview. The process is quite similar to that of the federal filing, just with fewer questions. In the Premier and Signature versions you'll apparently get state-specific tax advice; I didn't need any because I don't have any munis that are tax-free in my home state.

Once everything's filled out, you suck it up, hold your breath, and file. You can either have the form checked and signed by an H & R Block tax preparer or submit Federal (and in most cases state) forms electronically - and voila! - you're done!


"So," you ask, "What's a TurboTax user think of TaxCut?" In one sentence, next year I'm goin' back to Intuit. Just so I could compare the two products fairly, I compared TaxCut Signature and TurboTax Ultimate (both $79.95) for filling out our tax returns. You can do the same thing - neither site requires that you pay for the product until you actually file; TurboTax doesn't even require you to register! The upshot of my comparison is that I liked TurboTax better - and it's not just because I'm more familiar with it. Here's why:

• Interface: The TaxCut interface is dull; the designers probably intended all that gray and green to be soothing. More than dull, it's laid out strangely, and the site does little to take advantage of color and bolding to emphasize important points. Oh, sure, there are little icons that warn you that the IRS gets a copy of W2s and 1099s, but you already knew that. All the text is plain black - and it's a fairly small font, too. Finding the virtual versions of the forms you're filling out is tricky, which means that the software has a much more "user-transparent" feeling than strictly necessary. For someone who likes the feeling of the cheap newsprint in his hands, this is a little troubling

• Features: TurboTax comes with little videos and sound files all over the place and lots of "click me!" buttons for answering questions like "who needs to file this form?" Maybe I almost never use them, but a video of someone explaining the difference between a Roth IRA and a classic IRA is more educational than some funky black on white text.

• Imports:TurboTax lets you download all of your W2, 1099, and 1098 information from the issuers instead of having to type it in. Not so with TaxCut - and while the latter's software version imports Quicken and other bookkeeping software files, TurboTax imports that data whether you're using a desktop copy or an online version.
• Help: The online help files for TaxCut reference features that are not included - and remember, I was using the most advanced version available. One of the biggest problems I encountered was that the online support technicians had no idea what I was talking about, either - not a good thing... when I'm asking a pretty simple question like "Your help files clearly state that I can import my 1099. How do I do that?"

• Hints: When you're done with TaxCut, the software runs an error check and then you file. TurboTax, on the other hand, provides a statistical analysis of your return compared to national averages (apparently everyone else gives lots more to charity than I do - or at least claims they do). It warns you about the types and quantities of deductions that might trigger an audit. Not so TaxCut.

As I said before, I'm not a tax professional, so I'm not going to make any claims regarding the accuracy of this or any tax preparation product. I will say that I ran the same set of numbers through both software packages - TaxCut Premium and TurboTax Deluxe, bot on-line versions - and got the same answers for both sate and federal returns. But for my money, when it comes to the utility, helpfulness, and ease of use of the software, TurboTax beats TaxCut hands-down. I'm heading back next year.


Disclaimer: I received this product from Fleishmann-Hillard in exchange for my honest review posted on Epinions.com

Recommended: No